More than 60% of the apple production hasn't been harvested. The fruit will be destined to industry, which means producers will be paid a lower price than what they expected to earn in the market for their production.
The lack of demand due to a saturation of red apples in the domestic market led to a collapse in prices, making the harvest and transfer of this product almost impossible. In addition, producers, who were betting on achieving better sizes and color, allowed the fruit to ripen more than necessary, making it impossible for it to be exported to Europe.
Currently, the trees in Rio Colorado and in the fields of Valle Medio and Alto Valle are laden with apples. Many producers are already hiring people to collect it and send it to the juice industry.
Ariel Vilicich, the manager of the Cooperativa de Comercialización y Transformacion (CRC) company, said that "seeing all this fruit hanging on the trees is clearly is a bad sign for farmers."
The president of the Chamber of Producers, Victor Pardo, stated "the domestic market is saturated with apples. There is no demand and the sector's labor costs are expensive, which increases the products' cost and makes it impossible to export it. The fruit of the Valley should be in Europe, but it's currently being sold in the local market."
Most of the producers in this locality had decided to place all their fruit production in the domestic market in this 2017-2018 campaign. This is not the best scenario.
Source: rionegro.com.ar